Gamasutra Smartphone/Tablet News

Get a job: Ubisoft and others hiring now on the Gamasutra jobs board

Fri, 25 May 2012 17:05:00 -0400

In the latest postings over the last seven days, Gamasutra's jobs board plays host to roles in every major discipline, including opportunities at Ubisoft, Majesco Entertainment, Powerhead Games, and others. Each position posted by employers will appear on the main Gamasutra job board, and appear in the site's daily and weekly newsletters, reaching our readers directly. It will also be cross-posted for free across Gamasutra's network of submarket sites, which includes content sites focused on ...

Apple's App Stores add Free App Of Week, more curated highlights

Fri, 25 May 2012 15:21:00 -0400

Apple has added two new curation features to its iOS and Mac App Stores, "Free App Of The Week" and "Editor's Choice," which are designed to help consumers discover new games. Many have complained about discoverability problems on iOS's App Store in the past, as it can be difficult for a game to stand out from the hundreds of thousands of other titles available on the service. Electronic Arts founder and Digital Chocolate head Trip ...

Mobile game developer survey leans heavily toward iOS, Unity

Thu, 24 May 2012 16:25:00 -0400

Gamasutra sister publication Game Developer magazine has released the results of its first-ever mobile and social developer technology survey in the May 2012 issue. (The May 2012 issue is now available via subscription and digital purchase.) Unsurprisingly, iOS was the most popular development platform, with 94.6% of surveyed developers releasing games for iOS, followed by Android (70.7%), Windows Phone 7 (8.8%), BlackBerry OS (2.7%), Symbian (2.0%), and Samsung Bada (1.4%). Of those iOS developers, 39.4% ...

Top iPad game apps: Discounted GTA III, Chinatown Wars report sales surge

Thu, 24 May 2012 16:14:00 -0400

[In this weekly column, Gamasutra rounds up the most popular paid and free iPad gaming applications on the App Store as of today, with Grand Theft Auto III, Extinction Squad and Cut the Rope: Experiments HD currently ranking among the platform's top downloads.] This week's top paid titles are: 1. Bejeweled HD (PopCap, $3.99) 2. Angry Birds Space HD (Rovio, $2.99) 3. Infinity Blade II (Chair, $2.99) 4. Grand Theft Auto III (Rockstar, $0.99) 5. ...

Google Play adds in-app subscriptions for Android games

Thu, 24 May 2012 14:09:00 -0400

Google Play (formerly Android Market) now allows developers to implement in-app subscriptions in their games, enabling them to offer monthly or annual memberships to players. This feature expands the options developers have for monetizing their games on the platform. Google notes that total revenues from in-app purchases for its top-grossing programs exceed those for traditional app purchases -- though analysts estimate that Google Play app sales are behind iOS app revenues. Starting today, developers can ...

Top-Grossing Android games: Rage of Bahamut dominates revenue charts

Wed, 23 May 2012 18:13:00 -0400

Every week, Gamasutra rounds up the top-grossing Android gaming applications, as current that day at Google Play. This week's U.S. revenue charts see Rage of Bahamut and Zynga Poker leading today's rankings, as Airport City and Tap Fish also report top earnings. These charts allow end users to see who is making the most money on Google Play that day. It differs significantly from the Top Paid Games chart, which is ranked by sales, and ...

Top-Grossing iOS Games: DragonVale leads multiplatform sales

Wed, 23 May 2012 17:56:00 -0400

Every week, Gamasutra rounds up the top-grossing iPhone, iPod Touch and iPad applications, as current that day in the iTunes App Store. This week's U.S. revenue charts see DragonVale and Kingdoms of Camelot earning top iPhone sales, while Poker by Zynga and Bejeweled HD emerge as big sellers on the iPad. These charts allow end users to see who is making the most money on the App Store that day. It differs significantly from the ...

J.S. Joust clone removed from App Store, dev 'never gave permission'

Wed, 23 May 2012 15:11:00 -0400

[UPDATE: Douglas Wilson of Die Gute Fabrik has contacted Gamasutra, saying, "Sam Pepper did email me back in January. However, I never gave him "permission" to develop Papa Quash." "In his emails, he told me about his general plans to make a motion control game, which he indicated was different from J.S. Joust. He never provided a well-formulated game/design, and as such, there simply was nothing to "approve." I did tell him that, as long ...

GameFly pushing into mobile by publishing iOS, Android games

Wed, 23 May 2012 12:20:00 -0400

Video game rental service GameFly has announced several new mobile initiatives, including plans to publish smartphone titles, a new fund for financing mobile titles, and an app store for Android devices. The company, which offers a Netflix-style game-by-mail rental service, says this push is part of GameFly's strategy to increase its digital presence -- the company recently launched a PC game client allowing subscribers to download PC titles. GameFly expects to begin publishing iOS and ...

Gree's social mobile game platform launches as open beta

Wed, 23 May 2012 09:58:00 -0400

Gree's new self-titled mobile social game platform has launched worldwide as open beta, allowing developers to download and utilize the platform's APIs and services. The platform, unveiled last year, is due to launch fully during the second quarter of 2012, with a focus on helping developers master the creation of free-to-play games for smartphones and tablets. The Gree Platform offers an API suite with built-in social viral tools, plus user invite, request and share services, ...